Best Western Watertown Fort Drum — Hotel in City of Watertown

The most unkept and unprofessional place I’ve ever had to stay.

Upon entering my room, the bathroom smelled damp as there was no fan/circulation and I immediately noticed some bug carcasses right below my clothing rack. I ran to check my bed, and thankfully, had no issues there.

The shower was still dirty; I found hair still stuck on the shower head and residue on the soap holders. Thought I’d give them a chance so I dealt with it and thought I’ll just put out the “please make up room” door sign signaling for housekeeping.

Before leaving for work the next day, there was a spider in my bathtub but I went to work hoping it’d be gone by the time I returned, it would be gone (either by its own doing or by housekeeping). When I came back, everything was still unmade but thankfully the spider was gone. HOWEVER, I noticed that the AC unit was turned off (even though I left the fan on for circulation). I thought, “strange,” thinking “maybe it turned off automatically on its own?” (though it stayed on all night and had no auto-off option). Later that night, I was checking the cords on my TV when it was having issues, and found a piece of foil behind the fridge. I thought I would give it one last chance, and quite frankly, was just too exhausted from work that I didn’t want to deal with the hassle.

The third day, I continued leaving the door sign out for housekeeping, and again, came back to an unmade room and the AC unit turned off. I called the front desk, then was told to come speak to the manager, Josh Brett, in person. As I showed the receptionist (the same one who checked us in) and Mr. Brett pictures of the bug carcasses, I was brushed off, but he proceeded to explain that “since COVID, we only do housekeeping every 3 nights and unless you request it; I couldn’t find any door signs indicating that on Amazon but whoever checked you in should have explained that so I apologize that you didn’t know and I’ll take care of it after I look at your portfolio.” Since this was my last, and third night, they couldn’t have housekeeping come and do a quick sweep of things (if they even cleaned this room at all). I asked that shouldn’t it have been corporate’s responsibility to order those signs, or even a printout left in the rooms and a variety of other methods, but the response I got was that it “wasn’t even on the bestwestern website. I was so fed up and couldn’t deal with the carcasses anymore, I used the door sign to scoop them out of my room.

Later that night, at 10:30PM I got a call on the phone room and was asked by the receptionist to move my car from the electric charging spot in the lot, (which I had parked in because it was directly in front of my room’s window and a side entrance so it was extremely convenient) since someone else needed to charge their vehicle. Keep in mind, there is an entire row of electric charging spots along the side of the parking lot closest to the road. I decently got out of bed, noticed there were other non-electric vehicles parked next to me and additional empty spots, but moved my car regardless. As I returned to my room that night, I decided to stop by the desk and ask for some utensils, to which the same receptionist who checked me in had said the kitchen was locked so she had no utensils. When I got back to my room, I kept the curtains open a bit (because like I said, those spots are directly in front of my window) to see if anybody else was asked to move their vehicles from the electric charging spots, or if anyone had taken the spot (from which I had to move) to charge their car. My previous spot remained empty until we checked out the next morning.

The location is great, as Watertown is a beautiful place, but I would have MUCH rather payed more or commuted longer for a place to feel more decent than this. This Best Western was run down, despite being mostly empty, and the staff did nothing to accommodate any concerns I brought to their attention. The only helpful employee was Nathan, when we checked out, made sure to validate my concerns...

Old, large hotel that was probably quite grand back in the 1940s. Still has good bones. Quite a large building, it has a very large dining room for the morning breakfast, which is necessary as there were a lot of ppl. The dining room looks like it may have been a ball room eons ago.

We were over from southern Ontario for a bit of shopping and a 1000 Islands boat cruise up in Alexandria Bay.

Anyway, the hotel is showing age and neglect. The dining room was shabby looking. It looks like once something breaks, that's it. The AC worked well in our room but the rest of the building either doesnt have air, or it was turned off/broken. It was hot walking anywhere outside our room. The coffee maker for the dining room was broken so no fresh coffee. They did have some watered down coffee in small metal coffee pots that was so weak you could see the bottom of your cup the day we were there. The hot food consisted of bacon and prefab eggs. The bacon was rationed and was the thinnest and narrowest bacon I've ever seen. Like it was shaved. They brought about 6 slices at a time, on a paper plate, for a large room full of ppl. Eggs were only slightly more plentiful. We were too tired to check out the pool so cant comment on that. The room was ok. Nothing spectacular but nothing wrong with it either. The bathroom had been redone recently and was quite nice. The bed was of average comfort. The bar fridge worked well and kept our beverages nice and cold. We didnt use the microwave. Remote for the tv was broken, the battery compartment hatch is at the front of the remote and you had to hold it closed with one hand to get it to work with the other. The internet was up & down like a toilet seat in a co-ed college restroom. If you NEED stable internet, you'll need to provide your own pkg if you stay here. I dunno...I wasnt impressed. I'd try somewhere else if I stay over in...

We were very leary of staying here given the mixed reviews found online. This is an older hotel, which has been updated. Our room was fine, but yes they are double, not queen beds. It was no problem for us. The amenities provided were clean and in good working order. You could see some bigger projects that needed to be done, but they in no way affected our stay. The smell of the room was OK, although the hallway was a bit stale. A few air freshners on timers in the lobby/hallways would be a great idea for this older building. Obviously with an older building, the walls are thin so you can hear more movement than in a newer hotel. We found it had a lot of people staying for work (we were thereTues to Thursday) so no crazy partying was going on. We played white noise at night, which we do in most hotels, and had quite comfortable sleeps. Both my sister and I, who had our own rooms with our families, stated it was one of the comfiest sleeps we've had recently in hotels. We saw no sign of bed bugs nor any of the alarming things in other posts. It's a perfectly adequate hotel, and what you get is reflected in what you are paying. The only thing that I found to be sub par was the fact that there was only 2 shower towels in the room, when we had it booked for 4 people. I asked the cleaners for more towels the next morning because we only had 2, and she said we could have some by the end of day, and that they only supply 2 per room. When we returned there were 2 additional shower towels in the bathroom...nothing more. So 1 bath mat, 1 hand towel, 1 facecloth, and 2 bath towels. I think they could/should improve on that. Not a deal breaker though. Still happy with what we got for the price we paid. Anyone wanting to save some $$ while traveling can book without worry. We did not eat breakfast, but that's normal for us. Not big...